I'm With You
by Takara Ravenheart
Summary: Tagiru sees Kiichi being bullied by some bigger boys and comes to his rescue, reminding the boy that he's not alone. Friendship drabble.


_Okay so my favourite character is Tagiru and he does something nice for Kiichi. I would like to credit __**Zero Unit RGB **__for the bullying idea from his fic. Thanks! It is also written for the Diversity Challenge B34: write about a friendship that is not your brOTP.  
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><p>It was a month after the battle with Quartzmon and Tagiru was headed to the basketball courts to meet up with Taiki and Yuu. It was a good distraction from missing Gumdramon and he was the happiest around those two. As he turned a corner, he heard voices causing him to stop where he was.<p>

"Please stop it!" Kiichi's pleading voice called out causing Tagiru to tense a little. Whilst he wasn't as close to Kiichi as he was to Taiki and Yuu, he was still a close friend. He heard a thud and peeked out a little, wincing as he saw a couple of large boys push Kiichi to the ground.

"Get up, pansy boy," The round and tall guy said harshly, kicking him in the arm.

Something inside Tagiru snapped and he lunged forward, pushing the larger boy back. He may be bigger than him but no one hurt his friends and got away with it.

"You creep! Leave my friend alone!" Tagiru said, anger flashing in his eyes.

The boys laughed.

"Oh, so this pansy boy does have friends," The round boy mocked again.

"T-Tagiru-kun," Kiichi said weakly.

Tagiru's expression softened and he helped Kiichi to his feet. "You ok?"

"Y-yeah, you shouldn't get involved," Kiichi mumbled. "I'm used to this, it's okay."

Another burly boy spoke. "Looks like you want to get beaten up along with Pansy-boy here."

Tagiru shrugged. "Go ahead and beat me up then. I can't exactly see you stand by pushing my friend around."

The burly boy bristled, launching a punch at Tagiru's face sending him stumbling back right into Taiki and Yuu who had come to look for Tagiru.

"Is there something wrong here?" Taiki said catching Tagiru who immediately pulled away, scoffing at the boys.

"They seem to think a single punch can knock me down, Taiki-san," Tagiru said before turning back to the burly boy and shrugging. "Come on, big guy. I can take as many punches as you throw. I'll keep getting back up until you leave Kiichi alone."

The burly boy was about to punch again, but the other grabbed his hand.

"Don't, Kuro," His friend said. "They're Kudou-kun and Amano-kun's friends. Come on, we'll try again another time."

"I wouldn't do that," Yuu said stepping forward. "Or I can easily have your acts spread out amongst the school. Leave Kiichi-kun alone or they'll be consequences."

Kuro glowered, but allowed his friends to pull him away.

Kiichi rubbed his arm, looking at Tagiru. "Thank you...oh you're hurt...your eye looks swollen."

Tagiru smiled, reaching his hand out and squeezing Kiichi's shoulder. "We're friends, Kiichi. Why didn't you ever tell us about this?"

Kiichi shook his head. "I didn't want to bother you and it stopped for awhile when Locomon was here. Besides, it's been going on for awhile. I'm weak so..."

"That's not true," Tagiru said. "You've helped us a lot in the Hunt, Kiichi and in the final battle. Besides, as far as we're concerned, you're a member of Xros Heart, not Xros Strength neh Taiki-san?"

Taiki laughed. "Pretty much. You're stronger than them anyway isn't he Tagiru?"

Tagiru nodded. "Yeah! I mean, you stood up to Ren, taking a stand to get Locomon back from him remember? All you have to do is stand up to those bullies as well and they'll never bother you again."

"Really?" Kiichi said.

"He's right," Taiki said. "My childhood friend Akari was bullied as a child, being teased for being a freakshow because she was different. I defended her back then but the bullying didn't stop until she stood up for herself. She survived, Kiichi and so can you."

Kiichi sniffled. "Ok...I'll try."

"It's what Locomon would want too," Yuu added. "But for now, why don't you spend the day with us? It'll be a nice distraction."

Kiichi looked between the three of them. "Is that ok? I don't want to get in the middle of your plans."

Tagiru shook his head. "We were just gonna head to the Courts together, come join us and we'll teach you basketball."

"Won't you need to learn basketball yourself to teach him?" Yuu teased.

Tagiru scowled. "I play fine."

Taiki sighed as the two began bickering. "What am I going to do with those two? Anyway, Kiichi," He smiled. "Please join us."

Kiichi nodded. "Okay, let's go."


End file.
